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China defends Women's Team table tennis title in Rio

Grand Slam Champion LI Xiaoxia ended her international table tennis career in style, continuing her 3-0 (11-9, 11-3, 11-7) swept against HAN Ying (GER). The world number four have previously announced her retirement from international play after her semifinals match against Singapore.

LI have shared earlier “The Women’s Team final might be the last time I’m representing my country to compete. My goal will be to win, but the most important thing to show my best self on court.”

The 28-year-old has not dropped a single game since the Team event started, and even in the Singles event, the Singles Silver medalist has only dropped four games to the eventual Champion DING Ning (CHN) throughout the entire Olympic Games in Rio.

Missing out on the Singles event, world number one LIU Shiwen (CHN) was on task to stamp her authority in the team event. The four-time Women’s World Cup Champion gave no chance for Petrissa SOLJA (GER) to fight back, defeating the world number fifteen 3-0 (11-3, 11-5, 11-4) to give China a 2-0 lead for her first Olympic Gold.

LIU joined forces with Singles Champion DING Ning (CHN) to face German pair of SOLJA and SHAN Xiaona. The German duo put up a brave fight, but the combination of the world number one and two proved too strong for them, and China prevailed 3-1 (11-6, 11-5, 9-11, 11-7) to seal the victory in the Gold medal match.

Winning her first Olympic medal in Rio, an excited LIU shared “It’s a dream for everyone to win an Olympic medal, so this is perfect.”

DING added “We are a team so we do everything together and trust each other. Sometimes at this level we don’t think we just play.”

Despite losing the Gold medal, Germany has secured the Silver medal, which is Germany’s first Women’s Olympic Table Tennis medal, and first for Europe since Seoul 1988.

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PV Sindhu books place in Rio 2016 semis

PV Sindhu produced a stunning performance to book her place in the badminton semi-finals at Rio 2016 after beating World No. 2 and 2012 Olympic silver medalist Wang Yihan of China 22-20, 21-19.

After soaking up early pressure, Sidnhu recovered from 0-3 down to level the game at 5-5, stretching her opponent at every opportunity.

But Yihan started to gather momentum and entered the mid-game interval with a slender 11-8 lead. It did not unsettle the young Indian and she came back to level the contest 14-14.

The game continued to increase in intensity with the lead switching sides. Sindhu earned her first game point at 20-19 but a determined Yihan saved it to make it 20-20. However, a loose approach shot from Yihan led to Sindhu converting for the game winner.

Riding high on confidence, the Indian kept the pressure on the former World No. 1 in the second game. Banking on her attacking shots, she soared into an 8-3 lead and then an 11-8 advantage as Yihan started squandering more chances.

After Sindhu surged ahead (18-13), the second seed reeled off six points in a row to make it 19-18. But the Indian held her nerve and closed out the match in 54 minutes to record an impressive win.

She is now the second Indian badminton player since Saina Nehwal in 2012 to reach the semi-finals of an Olympic Games. One more win will assure her of a medal but to do that, she has to beat a player whom she has failed to overcome in their last three meetings.

Nozomi Okuhara, the World No. 6 from Japan, is the reigning All England Open champion and will be looking to break down the Indian with her tremendous defensive game.

If Sindhu can summon the same courage and determination that she showed against Yihan, she has a chance to secure India’s first medal of the games.